INTRO: Hothouse special
This summer is hot on the Baltic coast. Last month German Railway’s regional subsidiary DB Regio introduced a dedicated DiscoZug to carry young people to and from a regular Weekend Party in the Heizhouse discotheque at Parchim. According to DB Regio, the DiscoZug offers ’Fun und Action’. It uses a three-coach set refitted to promote the Deiner under-25 railcard, decorated in a youthful style and equipped with its own powerful music system - four loudspeakers per vehicle.
Beginning on July 3, the train leaves Schwerin at 22.00 each Saturday evening, picking up at all intermediate stations, and arriving at Parchim 57min later. Standard DB tickets are valid, but Deiner holders can buy a special return for just DM9.
The return trip was booked to leave Parchim at 04.23 on Sunday morning, getting the weary partygoers back to Schwerin at 05.21. However, after the first week DB responded to passenger feedback and rescheduled the return service to leave an hour later. Dedicated boppers who want to stay even longer can also use their return tickets on the normal Sunday morning train, which leaves Parchim at 05.53.
For those who are really partied out, DB Regio has introduced a facility on the return trip for passengers to book a taxi from the train. This will meet them off the train at any station and take them right to their front door.
Toothpaste tube
Move over the Rajdhani and Shatabdi expresses; Indian Railways has a new named train. Calcutta Metro Rail launched its very own Colgate Express on July 7. Brought to the city by Hindustani Lever, it is the first of 12 trainsets made available to carry all-over adverts.
The metro has awarded a Rs10m concession to Incoda Media Services to market interior and exterior advertising on the trains. But whilst interior advertising is common, the all-over look is proving harder to swallow. Some Metro officials claim the concession does not include painting the sponsor’s name on the front and rear of the train. Incoda claims the idea has been approved by the General Manager, and ’there is no question of wiping off the names.’
Hindustani Lever is believed to have paid Rs260000 for a one-year contract. Incoda is currently negotiating with other corporate sponsors Whirlpool, Nestlé, Union Bank, ITC and Aristocrat, but IR has ruled that the metro will not accept tobacco or alcohol advertising. n
